Fiddlehead Fern and Morel Mushroom Pasta

by Sala @ Veggie Belly on May 24, 2010

Fiddleheads are young, coiled fronds of the Ostrich Fern. They appear during a short window in the spring and are usually foraged. They have a very mild flavor and a pleasant crunch. To me, they taste somewhat like broccoli stems. Fiddleheads taste great with morel mushrooms. Both fiddleheads and morels come into season at the same time; so it makes sense to use them together. The bright delicate flavor of fiddleheads paired with the earthiness of morels is just exquisite.

Fiddleheads remind me of the beauty of natures creations. These are bright green coils of fern with the delicate flavors of spring tucked into their gorgeous spirals. Dont add too many herbs or spices to fiddlehead dishes; just let their flavor shine through.

How to cook and store fiddleheads

- Remove any brown stuff and dirt on the fiddleheads. Trim the ends

- Wash them throughly in cold water

- Fiddle heads taste best when blanched in salted waterfor 2-4 minutes or until they are tender but crisp. Use blanched fiddleheads in pasta or lightly saute them in butter

- Instead of boiling, fiddleheads can also be steamed till they are crisp-tender

- Blanched/steamed fiddleheads can be patted dry and frozen

- Don’t eat fiddleheads raw, they can make you sick!

- Consume fiddleheads immediately after your purchase or foraging trip. They don’t keep very well

- If you must store fiddleheads, wrap them loosely in a plastic bag and refrigerate them. Use within one day

Boil water in a small pot, add dried morel mushrooms to boiling water. Immediately turn off heat. Cover and let the mushrooms soak for about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, drain and squeeze excess liquid from the mushroom. Reserve about 1/4 cup of the mushroom soaking liquid.

In another pot, boil more water, add fiddlehead ferns and boil for about 2 minutes. Then remove from water and submerge in a bowl with cold water and ice cubes. This will stop the cooking process and keep the fiddleheads crisp and green.

Cook the pasta in plenty of salted water till pasta is al-dente. Don’t overcook pasta.

I am trying to eat more vegetables right now and possibly convert into a vegetarian in the near future. Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe to us, I have tried it and I must say that I really love this pasta! It really went well with a cold glass of delonghi coffee I got as a present a couple of days ago. Please continue to share more great recipes! Thanks.

You probably do! You’ll want to make sure they are edible fiddleheads and not any other kind of unedible fern. There used to be a lady in Kodi who brought foraged mushrooms to our house. I bet someone like that would be the best person to identify fiddleheads

Great looking dish. I love wild foods. I went foraging for morels twice this season for the first time in my life. The first time was a great success, second time – nothing. I’ve never gone hunting fiddleheads though, never eaten them either. I’m curious how much they cost at Wegman’s? Are they as outlandishly priced as morels?

I’ve been picking and eating wild vegetables since a very young age and I’ve always been a big fan of the lovely spirally curls of young ferns – but it never occurred to me that they could be edible! For some reason Finnish wild vegetable sources never seem to mention them, even though ferns are ubiquitous here. Weird. It’s too bad the season is probably far past over for this year. :-/